Get the NYFW Look: Essie for Helmut Lang

Runway Inspiration:

Vibrant red, black and neutral colors played an important role in the Helmut Lang Fall/Winter 2014 collection. Julie Kandalec for essie created a chic nude by layering allure and ridge filling base coat over adore-a-ball to give a slightly sandy hue to the final color.

Essie Nail Products Used:

• Ridge Filling Base Coat
• Adore-a-Ball
• Allure

Get the look:

1. Apply one coat of Adore-a-Ball.
2. Once dry, apply one coat of Ridge Filling Base Coat.
3. To finish off the nude look, apply one coat of Allure.

Get the NYFW Look: Essie for Rebecca Minkoff

Runway Inspiration:

Taking inspiration from classic menswear, Rebecca Minkoff’s Fall/Winter 2014 collection infused tailored silhouettes with soft, feminine pieces.  To complement the collection, Michelle Saunders for essie put a bold, modern twist on a classic French manicure.   

Essie Nail Products Used:

• First Base Base Coat
• Bahama Mama
• Midnight Cami
• Good to Go Top Coat

Get the look:

1. Apply First Base Base Coat to clean, filed nails.
2. Once the base coat dries, apply two coats of Bahama Mama.
3. Using Midnight Cami, brush on a neat arc across the edge of the nail and let dry.
4. Finish off the look with one coat of Good to Go Top Coat.

Get the NYFW Look: Essie for Herve Ledger

Runway Inspiration:

Inspired by a mixture of fantasy and reality, Herve Leger’s Fall/Winter ’14 collection included a range of bandage dresses, arctic furs and exotic feathers. To complement the playful pieces, Julie Kandalec for essie created a matte, mauve nail. The key polish, lady like, was chosen for its pink undertones that are complementary to every skin tone. 

Essie Nail Products Used:

• Lady Like
• Matte About You Top Coat
• Good to Go Top Coat

Get the look:

1. Apply Lady Like to clean, filed nails.
2. Once dry, apply Good to Go Top Coat to prevent streaking.
3. Finish with Matte About You Top Coat.

Get the NYFW Look: Essie for Monique Lhullier

Runway Inspiration:

Taking inspiration from the feminine pieces in Monique Lhullier's Fall/Winter '14 collection, Julie Kandalec for essie created a sheer, pastel pink nail reminiscent of cherry blossoms. The nail color pops against the lightest pink found throughout the designer's collection.

Essie Nail Products Used:

• Ridge Filling Base Coat
• Muchi-Muchi
• Good to Go Top Coat

Get the look:

1. Apply Ridge Filling Base Coat to clean, filed nails.
2. Once the base coat dries, apply one coat of Muchi-Muchi.
3. Finish with Good to Go top Coat.

Get the NYFW Look: Essie for Lisa Perry

Runway Inspiration:

Lisa Perry's Fall/Winter 2014 presentation was inspired by dramatic volume and shape. To complement the brightly colored garments and textured metallic fabrics featured throughout the collection, Casey herman for essie created a high-shine silver nail look.

Essie Nail Products Used:

• Ridge Filling Base Coat
• No Place Like Chrome
• Quick-e Drying Drops

Get the look:

1. Apply Ridge Filling Base Coat to clean, filed nails.
2. Once the base coat dries, apply one coat of No Place Like Chrome.
3. Lastly, apply Quick-e Drying Drops to seal in color and enhance shine.

 For up to the minute coverage, check out: #essieNYFW for all the backstage happenings and #essielook for their designer nail looks!

You can also follow Essie on social media:

Instagram.com/essiepolish

Facebook.com/essie

Twitter.com/essie

Pinterest.com/essiepolish

essie.tumblr.com

Get the NYFW Look: Essie for Veronica Beard

Runway Inspiration:

Veronica Beard's Fall/Winter 2014 collection was inspired by 1970's glamour with heavy reference to David Bowie and the glam rock movement. Julie Kandalec for Essie created a layered nail look to compliment the designer's retro-looking fabrics and flamboyant prints.

Essie Nail Products Used:

• Ridge Filling Base Coat
• Mink Muffs
• Meet Me at Sunset
• Good to Go Top Coat

Get the Look:

1. Apply one coat of Ridge Filling Base Coat to clean, filed nails.
2. Once the base coat dries, apply one coat of Mink Muffs and let partially dry.
3. Next, apply one coat of Meet Me at Sunset and let completely dry.
4. Complete the look with one coat of Good to Go Top Coat.

For up to the minute coverage, check out: #essieNYFW for all the backstage happenings and #essielook for their designer nail looks!

You can also follow Essie on social media:

Instagram.com/essiepolish

Facebook.com/essie

Twitter.com/essie

Pinterest.com/essiepolish

essie.tumblr.com

Swatch & Review: My Spirit Fingers Cutie Pie

Happy Saturday! If you live in the Northeast like I do, I hope that you're safely snowed in and stocked up. We only got about 6" or so, but I have friends in Connecticut and Massachusetts whose snow totals are WELL over 30."

Today, I'm bringing you a brand new indie brand called My Spirit Fingers, which makes glitter top coats. The polish I will be showing you is called Cutie Pie.

My Cutie Pie is a clear base with silver bar glitter and varying sizes of hex glitter in magenta, silver, and bright blue. Here, I polished two coats of it over Essie No More film for a fun and playful look.

It applied easily with two coats and wasn't gloopy at all, a common problem with glitter bombs. In fact, I got a large variety of glitter with the first coat, so that was a major plus.

And here it is over SoFlaJo Silverado. I think this was my favorite combination and wore it for three days after I put it on! It has a nice pop to it, but it's a little more subdued and vampy. LOVED this.

Overally, this was a great glitter bomb and I was impressed with the overall formula.

Currently, My Spirit Fingers is taking orders via the invoice method. All polishes, including Cutie Pie, are $8.50 per bottle. For more information, you can email Dona (the mind behind MSF) at MySpiritFingers@gmail.com or visit the MSF Facebook page.

What do you all think of this glitter bomb?

Disclaimer: The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for consideration. For more information please visit my Disclaimer page.   

Top of 2012: Blue

Whether it's the ocean of St. Maarten, where I'm posting from today, the Doctor's TARDIS, or my favorite color M&M, I'm always on board with blue. And to be clear, I'm not posting while IN the ocean. That'd be a sad way for my Macbook to meet its demise. Rather, I'm posting from above the ocean on a cruise ship. Just in case you thought I was inhaling too many polish fumes.

So here are my top FOUR blues for 2012!

Essie Where's My Chauffeur was the biggest surprise for ME of the year, mainly because I never go for pastel cremes. But once this was actually in my hands and on my nails, I was a goner! It's a bit streaky with two coats, but evens out at three.

When it comes to blues, I always have faith in Zoya. In fact, I own more blues (13 in all) than any other color from the company. Nothing else is even close.

Zoya Song is a true royal blue glass fleck shimmer that didn't even come close to staining. I. Love. It. So. Much. I. Can't. Take. It.

Nailtini Admiral Perry is the PERFECT navy creme. It's got such a brightness to it, though it is rather vampy, and I'm just obsessed.

The coolest blue has got to be Seuss from Whimsical by Pam. It's a milky turquoise blue base with small red hex glitter and larger silver hex glitter. Am I slightly biased because I call my dogs Thing 1 and Thing 2? Uh, probably. But it doesn't make this any less awesome!

What's the blue YOU can't live without?

Swatch and Review: Essie Where's My Chauffeur

Happy Hump Day, lovelies!

I'm bringing you today a polish that I was given by the lovely Jillian over at Jilltastic Nail Design! It's one that I never thought to buy myself, given that I'm in a vampy state of mind, but holy smokes am I obsessed!

Essie Where's My Chauffeur is a turquoise creme polish with just a touch of mint. I am in LOVE with it! The application was a little streaky on coat two, but coat three completely evened it out, so I was fine with it.

I loved this SO much that you're going to see it again, later in the week, as part of my vacation nails!

Are you as in love with this shade as I am?
Princess Polish

Holiday Presents

Oh, hello again all of my lovelies! I have missed you so much!

Prior to Thanksgiving break, my professors at law school saddled us with enough assignments to bury me in my textbooks for two weeks. I have finally come out of case book hibernation and am so happy to be reunited with you all. The Halloween Hangover prizes are all on their way and things are getting back to normal!

Today, Princess Polish is getting in the holiday spirit with nails I rocked on Black Friday! I went back to the toy store I worked at for a little under two years (as my second job, Mets-aside) to help out on the super busy day. I am very well known for my crazy nail art amongst the customer base, so I HAD to go a little overboard for the day. And both Christmas and Chanukah are represented.

I went back into my It's So Easy drawer filled with their awesome products for nail art and pulled out their white Stripe Rite paint and rhinestones to create this simple and easy design.

 

Here are the Chanukah presents, represented by the blue and silver colors. I used Zoya Song (which is my new go-to blue) and Essie No Place Like Chrome. It took a little extra dexterity for the bows because I'm right-handed and this is my right hand. 

If you can't do the loops, this will still look very pretty using the straight lines to make a t and the rhinestone at the center.

And here are the Christmas presents! I used Sally Hansen Insta Dry in Emerald Express and Zoya Elisa to get a nice metallic glow. For some reason, the "ribbon" on the ring finger yellowed after I put on my top coat, but it worked alright with the color scheme. I apologize for the raggedness of the middle finger near the cuticle... I got into a fight with a door. Though I win, this was the sacrifice!

So what do you think of this mani? If you try out this technique, be sure to let me know!
Princess Polish

Nail Art Olympics Winners!

Good evening, all! I'm excited to announce the winners of the Nail Art Olympics!

All of the entries were fantastic and it was really hard to choose. But at the end of the day, I did have to pick my top 3 and I somehow managed to.

Are you ready to see who won?

Here we go!

Princess Nails

Sorry for being MIA for a while... I've been prepping for law school at the end of this month. It's scary, terrifying, and exciting all at the same time. But right now, I'm trying to enjoy what time I have left of the summer!

I wore these nails a few weeks ago after experimenting post-manicure at a nail salon. The only problem is that I can't remember the name of the base color! It was a really pretty pale pink Essie with a subtle reddish-pink shimmer. Though, I do know the color I used on the tips. It's a color I made for one of my sister's friends recently, called Princess Polish Flora!

 

I used Stripe Rite in a rainbow glitter, dotting tools, a little white polish, and a circular rhinestone for the flower. This was just a fun and girly way to wear my nails for a little while. I liked it a lot.

So what do you think, everyone? Can you name that polish?

Princess Polish

ANNOUNCING: Olympic Nail Art Contest!

I hope everyone is enjoying the Olympics thus far! I know I'm LOVING the gymnastics events… they're my favorite.

I teased it over the weekend, but wanted to launch it officially today. Princess Polish is hosting an Olympics Nail Art contest!

The rules:

1) The manicure you submit must be Olympics-themed in some way. It can feature an event or country, but must tie back to the Olympic games. Country flags on every finger don't count. :-P

2) The manicure you submit MUST be your own. It is very easy for me to cross-reference your image with the trillions on the internet. I will find out if you steal from someone else.

3) The contest is open through August 8th at 11:59pm EST. Winner will be announced on the closing day of the olympics, August 12th.

4) All submissions must be be submitted via email with the subject "Nail Art Contest" to PrincessPolishBlog@gmail.com. If you do not use that subject, the email will be deleted. Also include your first name, last initial, and if you have a blog, its URL.

5) This is open internationally!

The prizes:

1) Gold: Essie Metallic Go for Gold and Art Club stripers in Red, White, and Blue!

2) Silver: Essie Metallic No Place Like Chrome

3) Bronze: Essie Metallic Penny Talk

Good luck, be creative, and have fun!

Princess Polish

Essie Limited Edition: Cosmo's PSS Shimmer

A couple of weeks ago, Cosmopolitan magazine gave away 1500 bottles of a Limited Edition nail polish by Essie. At midnight, a group of fellow bloggers/polish addicts and I entered our information in a form and crossed our fingers that it would arrive in the mail.

Well, the mailman came on Tuesday and dropped off this beauty:

 

Essie Cosmo's PSS Shimmer definitely lives up to its name!

Cosmo's PSS Shimmer (say that three times fast) is a gold glitter nail polish suspended in a thick clear base.

The application of this polish was kind of on the thick side and hard to photograph because it was so jam-packed with glitter! Now don't get me wrong, I liked the fact that this was not a loud gold glitter, like Julep Oscar, but rather a delicate glitter. I just wish it wasn't as gloppy on the nail. It took four coats to be opaque and I recommend waiting until the previous coat is completely dry before proceeding. It would have saved me a headache.

So what do you think everyone? Is Essie Cosmo's PSS Shimmer a shade you'd rock?

Until tomorrow!
Princess Polish

Relay for Life Water Marble

On Friday afternoon, as I sat down to do my nails for that evening's Relay for Life, I was stuck trying to decide what I wanted to do with my manicure. I couldn't pick a shade of purple, the color of Relay. Should I go dark or light? Glittery or creme?

And then I could have smacked myself. Duh. DO ALL OF THE ABOVE!

I picked out Essie Bangle Jangle for the light, Orly Fowl play for the dark and glittery (FLAKIESSSSS!),  and Zoya Mira for the in-between.

After doing a quick coat of Bangle Jangle for opacity's sake, I got to work.

 

And this was the end result. I was really happy with it overall. 

First and foremost, Bangle Jangle was a nail polish dream and applied beautifully. The other colors seemed to play off each other rather nicely and make an impact. My nails were the talk of relay, especially once word got around that they were the reason I was the #2 fundraiser.

I was a little upset at the event, truth be told, because in years past, they had recognized the top 3 individual fundraisers and top 3 teams. This year, they only recognized the top individual, while doing all three teams again. My team, the Rutgers University Seeing Eye Puppy Club (hey Pebbles!), was the top team. And that was awesome. But I was a little sad they skimped out. I really wanted them to mention that I had raised the money in honor of my dad. 

But at the end of the day, the good of what this money did far outweighed my minor disappointment. It only lasted a few minutes. I just hope that the nearly $80,000 raised overall at the Rutgers event really makes a difference in people's lives. I know a lot of you donated in honor of a loved one lost, currently battling the disease, or a survivor. And I thank you for allowing me to honor them on your behalf that night. It was truly a wonderful experience that I will treasure.

Much love and appreciation!

Princess Polish

Cosmetics for a Cure - Raffle to benefit the American Cancer Society

Today, I'm kicking off Cosmetics for a Cure!

Many of you do not know that my father beat colon cancer this past fall, just when my blog was getting started. Many posts were written from hospital rooms during his recovery.

I have always participated in Relay for Life, which benefits the American Cancer Society, but this year it became more personal than ever. As a college student, it's really hard to fundraise around campus and these days, with the current state of the economy, it is a rough economic climate for these charities.

I have been toying around with this for a really long time, but some of my fellow bloggers finally pushed me to do this and I'm glad they did.

Cosmetics for a Cure is a raffle, with 100% of the money donated going to the American Cancer Society via Relay for Life! Each entry costs just $1 and you have a chance to win the VERY Limited Edition Peter Som Collection, hard to find nail polishes, expensive polishes, gift certificates, and more!

Money will be collected via the Relay for Life website and is an entirely secure. Due to ACS restrictions, there is a minimum $5 donations, which is five entries in the raffle.

For every $100 raised (which equals, at most, 20 people's participation), I will add a new prize! And believe me, they're awesome.

Here's the list of the money milestones and the corresponding prizes:

Start: LE Zoya Peter Som Collection

$100 - OPI DS Ruby

$200 - $10 Gift Certificate to Llarowe

$300 - Butter LONDON The Black Knight


$400 - Orly Dark Shadows Collection


$500 - Choice of 2012 Essie Wedding or Resort Collection

$600 - OPI DS Chiffon

$700 - Princess Polish's Favorite Things Pack (includes polishes, nail treatments, and other fun stuff!)

$750 - Floam by Nail-Venturous

$800 - One month of Julep Maven box


$900 - $10 Ulta Gift Card

$1000 - Lynnderella Boy Girl Party


$1050 - Deborah Lippmann Dream a Little Dream of Me

$1100 - Lynnderella Connect the Dots

$1150 - HITS Trendy


$1200 - Lynnderella Mysterious Ways


$1250 - Nicole by OPI Duo: OMB and Eenie Meanie Marry Me


$1300 - Lynnderella Very Pretty Vampire


$1350 - OPI DS Opulence

$1400 - Deborah Lippmann Dream a Little of Dream of Me (YES... ANOTHER ONE!)


$1450 - Custom Mary Kay Compact 

$1500 - Cult Nails Seduction


$1550 - Essie Shine of the Times

$1600 - butter LONDON Knackered


$1650 - OPI Glam Slam duo: Pros & Bronze/Love is a Racket


$1700 - Lynnderella Funny Money

$1750 - Cult Nails Scandalous

If we go over $700, I will add more mystery prizes! Every time we pass a milestone, I will announce it on the Facebook and Twitter pages. And who knows? If we receive donations, I might add in some surprises at $250, $350, etc.

HOW TO ENTER:

Please visit my DONATION PAGE to donate however much you'd like. $5 for 5 entries is the minimum, but certainly not a maximum. Beyond $5, it is the same $1 an entry. (Ex: 15 entries are $15, 100 entries are $100, etc.)

Please be sure to check off the box for that says "Yes, publicly display my donation amount with my name" so that I can correctly record your name and entries in an Excel sheet. When the raffle ends, I will use my Excel sheet and Random.org to select the winners.

The raffle starts today and ends on April 14th at 6:00 am. AND it is open internationally!

If you have any questions, please feel free to comment here or on Facebook and I will do my best to answer them.

If you would like to donate to my raffle, please contact me at PrincessPolishBlog@gmail.com.

Thanks in advance for all of your support!
Princess Polish

March Madness Top 32: South Division

 

And as the Final Four kicks off, we're finally through with our first round of eliminations and onto the Top 32! Today through the 7th, we're going to move through the 32 and then each day following will be all of the Sweet 16, Excellent 8, Final Four, and then the finals!

If you're new to March Madness, click here to see how it works. The winning polish will be featured in our next giveaway!

Are you ready? Get to voting!

Game 1:

Online Surveys & Market Research

Image Credit: Temptalia.com and AllLacqueredUp.com

Weekend Holo: Spring Stripes

You all may remember my post earlier in the week with my Spring Stripes nails. Well, for hump day holo (at least, this belated one), I wanted to see how I can kick it up a notch!

Behold - Holofied Spring Stripes!

 

I LOVED it! Still girly, but delicate and yet it has the KAPOW I wanted!

So tell me, everyone... which look do you prefer? The original Spring Stripes or the holofied Spring Stripes?

Spring Stripes

While I am reluctantly giving up my jewel tones now that it is spring, one thing that I could never give up is my nail art! So I tried to come up with something light and delicate that would also make an impact. I decided on a pastel rainbow.

First, I had to pick out some colors. I don't own nearly as many pastels as I do brights and darks, so this was a bit of a challenge for me. I wanted to select shades that would go well together and almost blend, rather than contrast.

 

Day 17: Zoya Jo

Day 17: Zoya Jo

Sorry for the delay, folks! Between my camera deciding to die immediately after I uploaded my vacation photos, law school applications (good news is, it looks like I will be at some law school in the Fall), work, and whatnot, I have been facing many obstacles leading up to this post. But thankfully, it has arrived and I can continue the 30 Days of Zoya.

To give you all ample time to vote, I'm going to post the rest of the write-ups in the challenge every other day. IE: Mon, Wed, Fri, etc. In the interim, I will post other swatches!

So here was the New Years Manicure you all voted on… Zoya Jo!As you can see, Jo is a stunning periwinkle color. But the biggest surprise is that she's got a big kerpow in the form of silver glitter. Amazingly, Jo turned out a lot darker on the nail than in the bottle itself. But it was a pleasant surprise.

As part of my new-found love of all things flakie (I'm hoping to get my hands on the Mylars soon), I threw on a coat of Essie Shine of the Times to see if it would change things up a little bit.And while it was really hard to capture in the harsh light of my dorm room, it turned out better when I took the flash off. You can really see how it morphs the effect.

So what do you think, ladies? Are you on the flakie train?!?

Day 18 is going to be full of purple-tones: Valerie, Nimue, or Petra?

Until tomorrow!
Princess P

PS Be sure to vote in the Theme Thursday challenge too!